Lilla Rose Amazing Deal

I pretty much am a consultant for personal purchases, so don't do much with it by way of a business, but there's a sale going on right now that's too good NOT to share, basically let's you get consultant-type discounts without even being a consultant. (And if you buy from my link, I won't object to earning a little commission check for having shared this very limited time sale with you either.)

http://www.lillarose.biz/innerbeauty

Broken Girl

Don't Forget to Check!

I know it seems I have totally abandoned this blog. I haven't forgotten, just been busy keeping Stroke Of Grace (my current stroke recovery story) up to date, working on my fishing my latest book project, Harvesting Hope from Heartache (a devotional that primarily focuses on the fruit of the Spirit), and adding a lot of ideas to my InnerBeautyGirlz page and many other boards at Pintrest, what I really came here to be sure you knew about!

From Quotes & Thoughts

I'm really excited about this new, ever-growing, visual resource, especially the recent recipes where I learned about how to make your own mineral makeup or how to really whiten your teeth! :) Please let me know if you try these (or any others) and what you thought!

Where Does Beauty Come From

I am posting a friend's link today, because her article met me right where I live. I pray it ministers to you as well. Where Does Beauty Come From?

I have moved my stroke updates to their own blog. Today marks six month since my life took such a dramatic change. I would invite you to follow along at Stroke of Grace.

How Do You Feel?

You may know from my other blogs that chronic illness has been a part of my life for my entire adult life, and part of my childhood too. Given my interest in both beauty and in pain and illness support, I wanted to share this article National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week with you:

“You Look So Good!” To Wear Make Up or Not?

It's a thought-provoking look at why we wear makeup and how it makes us feel about ourselves when we do. Yes, it is written to an audience of women living with chronic illness, but it makes me wonder about all of us, our motives, and the emotions tied to the beauty choices we make. What about you? Please share!

Reflecting

Can a mirror reflect more than your image? What about your thoughts? Here's a fascinating experiment one bride-to-be has taken on. She is going mirror-free fro an entire year, including the 6 months leading up to and INCLUDING her wedding day! Check out her journey at Mirror Mirror Off the Wall.

Dear Body

There are some beautiful thoughts over at (in)Courage today about how we see our bodies. Stop by to read, then let me know your thoughts! How do you see your body?


Looking for the latest Affordable Mineral Makeup™ deal*? Here are three to choose from, for a limited time:


TAKE 20% OFF and receive TWO 5g SIFTER JARS and TWO SAMPLES** with coupon code FFF71

4 gifts free with your minimum order of $14.95! Up to a $22.18 value. :)

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TAKE 25% OFF and receive TWO 10g SIFTER JARS and TWO SAMPLES** with coupon code FFF72

4 gifts free with your minimum order of $19.95! Up to a $46.18 value. :)

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TAKE 30% OFF and receive TWO 20g SIFTER JARS AND TWO SAMPLES** with coupon code FFF73

4 gifts free with your minimum order of $29.95! Up to a $58.18 value! :)

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*Minimum order must be met to qualify for discount and gift.
**Promotion items cannot be part of your order. Your free gift product choices must be included in the ADD COMMENTS field near the bottom of the checkout page to be eligible for promotion items.
Promotion items will be added to your shipment and cannot be shipped separately.
Limited time offer!

Lilla Rose Hair

Are you looking for easy, durable, beautiful hair clips that stay in place? Check out these by Lilla Rose. Made of piano wire (covered, so it won't damage your hair), these flexible clips will outlast most anything you have tried in the past, stay in place and hold hair well. I can put in an up-do in under a minute and not have to mess with my hair again for the rest of the day.

The hair styling video clips alone are worth the visit to the website! And yes, I am an independent consultant for this company. But of course, I don't sell anything that I don't love and use myself. :) For a consultant sign up just under $50 including 5 clips, I just couldn't pass up this business. So many beautiful styles to choose from!

Someone Beautiful

Having lived through 13 years of infertility, miscarriage and adoption losses I know how painful this time of year can be. (Well, every day can be painful, but certain landmarks such as Mother's Day can hold an extra sting!) So I typically avoid the sappy typical Mother's Day posts like the plague.

Having so many friends who have lost their moms or who have poor relationships with these women even if they are still living, I realize how uniquely blessed to have a loving relationship with my mom. I feel it is important to take the time to honor those in our lives who have blessed us. So today I ask your indulgence as I introduce you to someone who has brought much beauty to my life.

My mom, Betty Camp, was just selected as a top five finalist for a Mom of the Year award for the way she has gracefully lived with Fibromyalgia while selflessly giving to help me survive and thrive through my own chronic illnesses.

Would you please join me in celebrating Betty by reading her story and voting for her with a "5 star" rating at http://www.fmcpaware.org/mom-2? Public voting (you will be asked to register for a username but can uncheck any/all auto-subscription boxes if you do not wish to receive email from the Fibromyalgia website) remains open through May 9, with the grand prize winner being announced on Fibromyalgia and CFIDS Awareness Day, May 12. Thank you so much!


------- Sponsorship Message and Coupon Code -------

My heart is in sharing beauty with women, first heart beauty, but also affordable, healthy ways to care for our physical bodies that God calls the "temple" of His Holy Spirit when we allow Him to live within us through grace. To this end I am happy to represent Affordable Mineral Makeup™ (AMM) as a beauty adviser and to offer this high quality line of pure mineral products to my readers. AMM does NOT contain harmful bismuth or other skin irritants fillers, talc, nanoparticles nor micronized minerals. Our soothing line will not clog pores, contains natural SPF properties, helps calm irritated skin with its zinc content, and is water resistant.

For one more day [please visit "discount codes" to look for current promotions if this is expired by the time you see it], take 25% off (yes, that's 5% higher than our normal best offer!) every Affordable Mineral Makeup™ purchase of $19.95 or greater, placed from www.InnerBeautyGirls.com when you use check out using coupon code:
maydaze411

With this code, qualified orders (over $19.95 and properly following instruction for submitting freebie requests) will also receive a wonderful free gift of one 30-gram sifter jar with your choice of product - up to a $30.79 value with your purchase! To redeem the free gift offer, please list your requested free product selection in your order comments (not added to your cart!) when you place your order. Promotion items cannot be shipped separately.

Please visit http://www.InnerBeautyGirls.com and click on the "shop" link to get started by viewing our catalog. (I greatly appreciate when my return customers remember to always come back and start at my consultant link so that the computer knows to credit me for your purchases.) If you remember to list my name, Jenni Saake, in the comments section when you place your order, I would appreciate that too. Thank you for your business and support!

When I Don't Feel Beautiful

I'm not just talking about a "bad hair day" here. I'm talking about that deep dark frustration that I don't measure up. Have you ever been there?

The author of this article knows what I'm saying:

I recently watched the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. Although I enjoyed the pomp and majesty of the surroundings, what struck me most was the couple themselves. They are a stunning couple – physically attractive and in seemingly excellent health. Part of me rejoiced with them and prayed for God’s blessing in their lives. Yet I must admit part of me struggled with envy, not simply for their surroundings, but for their physical health and appearance as well...

So how can I cope when my body fails my hopes and expectations for myself? Please follow the link above to read Bronlynn Spindler's great reminders!

Quick Code

Here's another great deal on Affordable Mineral Makeup. Won't last long, so grab it before it's gone. :)

For a limited time [if this offer has expired by the time you read this post, please visit "discount codes" to look for current promotions], take 20% off every Affordable Mineral Makeup™ purchase of $19.95 or greater, placed from www.InnerBeautyGirls.com when you use check out using coupon code:
toofunny411
(In case you didn't know, it's National Humor Month. Nothing looks more beautiful on a woman and laughter or a smile!)

With this code, qualified orders (over $19.95 and properly following instruction for submitting freebie requests) will also receive two free gifts with your purchase! Your gifts are one 20-gram sifter jars with your choice of product (up to $25.79 value) AND one sample of your choice (up to $3.30 value).

To redeem the free gift offer, please list your requested free product selections in your order comments (not added to your cart!) when you place your order. Promotion items cannot be shipped separately. If you could also leave my name, Jenni Saake, in the comments section, this will help identify me as your consultant when your order is fulfilled.

Please visit http://www.InnerBeautyGirls.com and click on the "shop" link to get started by viewing our catalog. (I greatly appreciate when my return customers remember to always come back and start at my consultant link rather than on the main company page so that the computer knows to credit me for your purchases.) Thank you for your business and support!

Not Anonymous

There's a great discount code at the bottom of nearly every post. If that's what you are looking for, scroll on down to the sponsorship message. :) For anyone who wants to know my heart, here's today's post:

The most frequent comments I receive to this website are posted by some kind person named, "Anonymous." Anonymous seems to love my page. Sometimes she posts 30-50 times in any given week.

Strangely enough, most of her posts are flagged by my filters as SPAM. I wonder why? Perhaps it's because Anonymous loves to post a ton of links with her comments, often to websites that are anything but beautiful.

Perhaps it is because some of Anonymous' other posts seem like they could be from a real person with real desire to interact, but because she doesn't log in through an account nor is she willing to sign any name other than "Anonymous," I really can't bring myself to approve her comments even if they might be legitimate.

In God's eyes, no matter how small we may feel, God never sees us as Anonymous! He not only knows if we are real people rather than computer programming, He knows every detail about our lives, even the number of hairs on our heads. He know the beautiful places in our hearts, the ones that sometimes we can't even see for ourselves. And He knows the broken places, the ones He longs to redeem and repair.

To everyone reading who is not named Anonymous, I really would love to hear from you - real, living, breathing, beautiful women. If you don't want to use a Google account identity, could you please at least sign your first name and give me some reason to believe you are actually interested in communication? Otherwise I might think you are a random SPAMbot going around saying, "Great post!"

If I can't figure out that you are a real person who has actually read the post where you are commenting, I won't approve your comment. I love knowing friends and forging relationships, but I need some help from your end because I have no desire to friend any computer program even if she does have a fun name like Anonymous. ;) It makes me very sad to ignore anyone who just might be real, so please don't leave me guessing.


----- Affordable Mineral Makeup™ Discount Offer ----------

My heart is in sharing beauty with women, first heart beauty, but also affordable, healthy ways to care for our physical bodies that God calls the "temple" of His Holy Spirit when we allow Him to live within us through grace. To this end I am happy to represent Affordable Mineral Makeup™ as a beauty adviser and to offer this high quality line of pure mineral products to my readers.

For a limited time [if this offer has expired by the time you read this post, please visit "discount codes" to look for current promotions], take 20% off every Affordable Mineral Makeup™ purchase of $19.95 or greater, placed from www.InnerBeautyGirls.com when you use check out using coupon code:
flyinghigh311
(This week in 1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.)

With this code, qualified orders (over $19.95 and properly following instruction for submitting freebie requests) will also receive three free gifts with your purchase! Your gifts are three 5-gram sifter jars with your choice of product (up to $23.37 value).

To redeem the free gift offer, please list your requested free product selections in your order comments (not added to your cart!) when you place your order. Promotion items cannot be shipped separately. If you could also leave my name, Jenni Saake, in the comments section, this will help identify me as your consultant when your order is fulfilled.

Please visit http://www.InnerBeautyGirls.com and click on the "shop" link to get started by viewing our catalog. (I greatly appreciate when my return customers remember to always come back and start at my consultant link rather than on the main company page so that the computer knows to credit me for your purchases.) Thank you for your business and support!

Craving Jesus (+ Mineral Makeup Coupon Code and Gifts)

One of my most widely read articles in the history of this blog was when I got real about Weight Gain and Contentment last summer. It was a hard piece to write, and a harder piece to live out.

But God is so gracious. He created us and calls us beautiful. I believe it is His desire that we not only honor Him with our bodies, but that we trust what He says about us to be true. This is still a learning process for me. I thought you might like to follow me over to Tipping the Scales to see what else God's been doing in my heart (and my body) since last year's post.

I've recently been enjoying the book Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food and the reminders that God wants my hunger to drive me to Him.

I physically seem to be at a standstill again, not able to get the scales to move in a downward direction past the initial 15-18 pounds that I have lost. But emotionally and spiritually my gains are far outweighing even these physical losses. I'm eating much more healthfully (off refined sugars for nearly a month now - a huge deal for this carb addict!) and I'm getting into clothing that hasn't fit in a long time. Ultimately it's still about doing what I can, to the glory of God, and leaving the rest to Him.

Won't you join me on this journey? Please share how you are learning to see yourself through God's eyes and what steps you are taking to honor Him with the body He has created for you.

----- Affordable Mineral Makeup™ Discount Offer ----------

My heart is in sharing beauty with women, first heart beauty, but also affordable, healthy ways to care for our physical bodies that God calls the "temple" of His Holy Spirit when we allow Him to live within us through grace. To this end I am happy to represent Affordable Mineral Makeup™ as a beauty adviser and to offer this high quality line of pure mineral products to my readers.

For a limited time [if this offer has expired by the time you read this post, please visit "discount codes" to look for current promotions], take 20% off every Affordable Mineral Makeup™ purchase of $19.95 or greater, placed from www.InnerBeautyGirls.com when you use check out using coupon code:
hattiesoscar311

With this code, qualified orders (over $19.95 and properly following instruction for submitting freebie requests) will also receive two free gifts with your purchase! Your gifts are one 10-gram sifter jars with your choice of product (up to a $19.79 value) AND one 5-gram sifter jar with your choice of product (up to $7.79 value). FIRST 50 ORDERS: Your Free Gifts Will Automatically Be DOUBLED - 2 5g jars AND 2 10g jars, so HURRY!

To redeem the free gift offer, please list your requested free product selections in your order comments (not added to your cart!) when you place your order. Promotion items cannot be shipped separately. If you could also leave my name, Jenni Saake, in the comments section, this will help identify me as your consultant when your order is fulfilled.

Please visit http://www.InnerBeautyGirls.com and click on the "shop" link to get started by viewing our catalog. (I greatly appreciate when my return customers remember to always come back and start at my consultant link rather than on the main company page so that the computer knows to credit me for your purchases.) Thank you for your business and support!

What to Wear...Put on Love

One of my favorite online communities is (In)Courage, a "home for the hearts of women." Today Kristen Welch of "We are THAT family" posted a delightful post about Your Basic All Purpose Garment. She writes:

Before Jesus, we wore ill-fitted, dirty clothes. (Basically a bad episode of WHAT NOT TO WEAR).

After meeting Jesus, we’ve been dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item, custom-made to fit us perfectly, by The Master Tailor. We wear His label. And we look fine, I might add.

But then we have a bad day. The alarm doesn’t go off, we wake up late, we’re rushing around. We go for convenience and ease and slip on our old clothes: impatience, unkindness and judgment. We layer up in jealousy, gossip and low self esteem...

Read the rest and be refreshed over at (In)Courage today!


----- Mineral Makeup Discount Code and Sponsorship Message -----

My heart is in sharing beauty with women, first heart beauty, but also affordable, healthy ways to care for our physical bodies that God calls the "temple" of His Holy Spirit when we allow Him to live within us through grace. To this end I am happy to represent Affordable Mineral Makeup™ as a beauty adviser and to offer this high quality line of pure mineral products to my readers.

This week only [if this offer has expired by the time you read this post, please visit "discount codes" to look for current promotions], take 20% off every Affordable Mineral Makeup™ purchase of $19.95 or greater, placed from www.InnerBeautyGirls.com when you use check out using coupon code:
myvalentine211

With this code, qualified orders (over $19.95 and properly following instruction for submitting freebie requests) will also receive two free gifts with your purchase! Your gifts are one 10-gram sifter jars with your choice of product (up to a $19.79 value) AND one 5-gram sifter jar with your choice of product (up to $7.79 value). To redeem the free gift offer, please list your requested free product selections in your order comments (not added to your cart!) when you place your order. Promotion items cannot be shipped separately. If you could also leave my name, Jenni Saake, in the comments section, this will help identify me as your consultant when your order is fulfilled.

Please visit http://www.InnerBeautyGirls.com and click on the "shop" link to get started by viewing our catalog. (I greatly appreciate when my return customers remember to always come back and start at my consultant link rather than on the main company page so that the computer knows to credit me for your purchases.) Thank you for your business and support!

Loveliness

I'm guest blogging on the topic of Inner Beauty as a monthly columnist over at Glory and Strength. For the next nine months we will be looking together at characteristics that set a woman apart as a Christian, as found in Galatians 5:22-23.

Drop by Glory and Strength and click on "Growing in Glory" to find my latest reflections. This month we are talking about love - not the roll-your-eyes mushy, romantic kind, but the real down-to-earth, loving-in-the-midst-of-life's-messes kind. Here's a little taste to get you started. (And don't forget to keep reading to the bottom of this post to grab a great discount code for Affordable Mineral Makeup too!)

Love goes beyond “live and let live,” but takes the next step. When I’ve been wronged (I’m not talking about abuse here, but the daily messes of living life with imperfect people), I can show my friend God’s love by not waiting for her to make the first move. I can offer forgiveness even before she apologizes... Laying down my life for someone means I am actively on the lookout for my friend’s best interest.

Galatians 5:22-23 calls these times when I allow God to lead my decisions, attitudes and actions, the fruit or evidence of God’s Spirit in me... I’m not going to do a perfect job at showing God’s love each time I have the chance. The goal is to keep practicing, keep striving to bloom with time and practice... I can ask God to help me see opportunities to offer love to others because of Him, and then lean on Him for the strength to love even when it’s hard.

Please come read more about love at Love Fruit then tune in again next month to reflect with me on how we can find true joy. :)

For more thoughts on love by By Ida Mundell of "Eat Drink and Be Jesus," check out Love is a Sacrifice on (In)Courage. :)

------- Sponsorship Message and Coupon Code -------

My heart is in sharing beauty with women, first heart beauty, but also affordable, healthy ways to care for our physical bodies that God calls the "temple" of His Holy Spirit when we allow Him to live within us through grace. To this end I am happy to represent Affordable Mineral Makeup™ as a beauty adviser and to offer this high quality line of pure mineral products to my readers.

For a limited time [this offer expired 2/5/2010 - please visit "discount codes" to look for current promotions], take 20% off every Affordable Mineral Makeup™ purchase of $19.95 or greater, placed from www.InnerBeautyGirls.com when you use check out using coupon code:
shadow211

With this code, qualified orders (over $19.95 and properly following instruction for submitting freebie requests) will also receive three free gifts with your purchase! Your gifts are one 5-gram sifter jar with your choice of product (up to a $7.79 value) AND two mineral samples of your choice (valued at $2.49 each). To redeem the free gift offer, please list your requested free product selections in your order comments (not added to your cart!) when you place your order. Promotion items cannot be shipped separately.

Please visit http://www.InnerBeautyGirls.com and click on the "shop" link to get started by viewing our catalog. (I greatly appreciate when my return customers remember to always come back and start at my consultant link so that the computer knows to credit me for your purchases.) Thank you for your business and support!

Contentment

An article entitled Can you be chronically ill and still find contentment? may seem like a strange one to link to from a beauty blog, but I would love to invite you to visit this link and find great beauty tips such as:

• God looks at our hearts, not our material possessions and external beauty. “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7b) External beauty will fade, but inner character will not.

or

• God made us beautiful and in His image. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:14) We were created for a purpose and a plan,even those of us with physical limitations. How exciting!

If you know my story, you know physical struggle and disability have been a big part of my journey, along with all of the emotional issues of doubting and self-worth that come along with a body that isn't all I dreamed it would be. You can read more about my health journey at Given Me a Thorn or on my InfertilityMom blog, and you can find encouragement for your own struggles (maybe divorce, or the death of a child, or infertility, or abuse, or financial struggles?) at Harvesting Hope from Heartache™. Wherever you are in life, please know that God says you are beautiful, right here in the midst of the mess. Even if you can't see the beauty right now, God's still at work and His plan is yet unfolding in you!

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV).

SWIRL Your Savings

SWIRL is a new website I've just discovered. They offer high end designer items at "deep" discounts. (Sometimes that means a $400 wallet is "only" $150 now - still far out of my comfort zone! But it can also mean a $100 pair of earrings sells for under $20, so it's worth keeping an eye out for offers that fit your style and budget.) The catch is that quantities are highly limited.

New items come up for sale on a daily basis and each sale lasts only 72-hours (or until sold out). Honestly, my desire for inner beauty means I'm fairly picky and found many of the clothing items distastefully immodest in today's offerings, but I did spot a few cute items I would gladly wear.

I would love to invite you to check out SWIRL for yourself. Once you become a registered user (it's free!), you can invite your own friends and will receive $25.00 for each one who uses your referral code then places her first order!

According to the website I followed to explore the SWIRL for myself, promotion code 20OFF829 will get you $20 off your first SWIRL purchase if redeemed by Sept. 30. A great way to use this code is to watch for a $19.99 item then only have to pay shipping on a product that originally retailed close to $100. :) (I have yet to validate the promo code as I haven't placed an initial order myself yet, but I've used other codes from this friend's blog before and have always found them to be reliable, so I'm fairly confident in passing it along to you now.)

DIVAS of the Divine

I was recently given a copy of the book Divas of the Divine - How to Live as a Designer Original in a Knock-Off World and asked to offer my honest review for this blog. This is a large workbook with a cute cover and fun feel to it, but not "fluffy" when it comes down to content. Scriptural context is very important to me and there were times I felt that the authors, Donna McCrary and Sherri Holbert, could have selected stronger support passages for the points they were making, but overall I found the book to be Biblically grounded and the points about living a Christ-centered life to be spot on.

Something delightful about the book format is how the authors take turns sharing pieces of their own lives, intertwining their personal stories by turn, into the rhythms of the book. I loved the contrast in the author's viewpoints - one a tomboy, the other girlie; one a busy mom, the other finding fulfillment outside motherhood;  one outspoken in personality, the other more reserved - and that I could find something to personally relate to in one or the other's experience in nearly every issue they addressed.


It is my understanding that this workbook is only one portion of a larger ministry, and while it was a delightful study on its own, I wouldn't consider it truly "stand-alone" as there were occasional mentions of group activity events (I'm presuming as presented in a leader's guide) that I did not have access to. In these cases I found myself craving the companionship of a small group I could share the study with and feeling a bit "left out" that I didn't fully understand the activity being referenced. I don't know that this is a bad thing as the book is intended to draw women together into accountability relationships ranging from one-on-one partnerships, to mentorship and topical or situational small group needs (based on my own history, I can imagine an infertility support group fitting nicely here).

If you are looking for a tool to build a close one-on-one accountability relationship with a friend, want  to jump start a women's ministry for your church, or have a study need somewhere in between, this is a book you may want to take some time to investigate for yourself. Want to win a copy? Please leave me a comment by Thursday night (along with your email address so I can notify you if you win) and I'll select one commenter to enter into the blog carnival final drawing.
 

What to Wear

He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head...

Isaiah 59:17

Hairy

I guess this is my month to talk about hair. God talks about it too, so why not?

What's the price of two or three pet canaries? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries.
- Luke 12:6-8 (The Message)

It's day 8 of my No-Shampoo Challenge and I'm looking forward to sharing the journey with you through my video diary in another week or so.

For those who aren't interested in going shampoo-free, a friend just passed along news that Sally Beauty is currently offer Hair One at a great discount if you will take the time to stack a couple of promotional codes:

Normally Hair One runs $10.79 at Sally's.
Place this item in your cart then enter code 555114 to receive free shipping off a $10 order.
Then add code 555905 for 20% off, dropping your order to only $8.79 including shipping/tax!
If you start your whole shopping trip by registering for a free account at eBates then entering Sally Beauty through your personal eBates link, you receive 6% cash back on your order too!

I do not know an expiration date on these coupon codes, so if this is a deal you plan to take advantage of, I would encourage you to place your order quickly so you don't miss out.  Hair One is not a product I have personally tried, but I've heard some pretty good reports about it and would love to hear your viewpoint if you have given it a personal try.